DENVER — A Denver family is speaking out, warning others to talk with their adult children after losing their loved one from a possible drug overdose near a local nightclub.
Chloe Price won’t tell you her brother was a hero, but he was to her family. Jacob Morton, 33, was trying to find his way but made a deadly mistake the weekend of Dec. 1. Price, her roommate and Morton went to Beta Nightclub in downtown Denver to dance the night away with a little help from an illegal drug, Price told Denver7. They've taken it many times before: MDA, known as "Sally," the parent drug to ecstasy and closely related to "Molly."
"We went to the club. It was very exciting, and we got there about 10:45 p.m.," said Price. "So, the music, you know, the lights in the club, you get better and higher and you’re happy, and you want to dance."
But all three of them, she said, had bad reactions to the drug. Price said she started throwing up and that she and her roommate were kicked out of the club, followed by a trip to the hospital, separated from Morton.
"I had taken more than my roommate. I wasn't really understanding what was going on, why my brother was having such a severe reaction? And I’m here in the hospital," said Price.
Mitchell Gomez with DanceSafe, a non-profit focused on health and safety in the electronic music community, said tragedies like this happens often.
"I think we can qualify that the only safe choice is to not use substances," said Mitchell.
But all over the country, his volunteers set up at different events to test for bad drugs to help keep partiers as safe as possible.
"Lethal doses of opiates showing up in non-opiate drugs is happening. It’s happening quite often," said Mitchell.
Price believes the drugs they took were laced with something deadly. She never saw her brother alive again.
"He had actually collapsed. His knees buckled. He had a stroke and passed away. His heart basically couldn't take the drugs," said Price.
A few weeks later Beta Nightclub's management announced it would close it’s doors, saying it was time to reset and reflect. In a separate statement to Denver7, the owner said their closure is not related to Morton's death.
Price said she's no longer using drugs, but knows others will continue.
"Everybody should test everything they get every time, and this is a really good example of why you should do that. However, the person that did manufacture this, did that with malicious intent," said Price.
She hopes sharing her brother's story can help save lives.
"He had a bright future ahead of him, but unfortunately, he's gone now and I don't want this to happen to anyone else," said Price.
Denver police have opened a death investigation. Morton's toxicology results have not been released. His preliminary cause of death, according to a Denver PD spokesperson, is a drug overdose.
For more information about DanceSafe, visit it's website.
